Advances In Geoethics And Groundwater Management Theory And Practice For A Sustainable Development

This book gathers the peer-reviewed proceedings of the 1st congress on Geoethics & Groundwater Management (GEOETH&GWM'20), held in Porto, Portugal, in an online format on 18-22 May 2020. Hosted in School of Engineering (ISEP), Polytechnic of Porto based on Porto city (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the international conference focused on what has now been dubbed “hydrogeoethics”, a novel transdisciplinary, scientific field integrating all dimensions of geoethics in groundwater science and practice. Given its scope, the book is of interest to all researchers and practitioners in the geosciences, hydrology, water resources, hydrogeology, natural resources management, environment, engineering, law, sociology, education, philosophy, culture, among others. This joint congress is the result of a collaborative agreement between the IAH (International Association of Hydrogeologists) and IAPG (International Association for Promoting Geoethics) and reflects the need for concerted actions to achieve sustainable development. The diversity, scale, significance and increasing magnitude of anthropogenic interactions with aquifers and groundwater, which often involve conflicting values or interests, call for analysis, discussions and decisions on the part of the agents involved, e.g. groundwater scientists, policymakers, managers, organisations, professionals and citizens. This approach calls for a responsible, sustainable and human approach to groundwater use and management. The groundwater community involved in the exploration and exploitation, use and management of this increasingly vital natural resource is becoming more and more aware that ethical issues pervade all our attitudes from concept to action and need to be addressed. Diverse values and cultures, science and education, law and policies, human and natural environments and the public and the economic sectors view groundwater and its value and/or role differently. The authors believe that in a globalised and interconnected world, common ground must be found in the interest of peace, human development and sustainability. The main topics covered here include: 1. Fundamentals of hydrogeoethics: cultures, principles and geoethical values on groundwater science and engineering 2. Lessons for a resilient and sustainable future with hydrogeoethics: case studies of geoethics in groundwater science-engineering, profession, and management 3. Scientific and humanistic components of hydrogeoethics in groundwater education and professional training 4. Socio-hydrogeology and ethical groundwater management 5. Geoethics of decision making under uncertainty and ethical issues in neglecting groundwater functioning 6. Groundwater: geological, legal, social, and ethical challenges of a unique natural resource

This edited book is based on the accepted papers for presentation at the 1st MedGU Annual Meeting, Istanbul, 2021. With two parts spanning a large spectrum of environmental, geomorphological and geoarcheological topics and a third part on caves and karst, which includes research studies gathered on the occasion of the International Year of Caves and Karst (2021), this book presents a series of newest research studies that are nowadays relevant to Middle East, Mediterranean region, and Africa. The book gives a general overview on current research, focusing on geoenvironmental issues and challenges in environmental management in the Middle East and Mediterranean region and surrounding areas. It offers a broad range of recent studies that discuss the latest advances in geomorphology, landslides, soil science, paleoclimate, and geoarcheology. It also shares insights on cave and karst studies including speleology, cave and karst explorations, geomorphology, hydrogeology, geoethics, prehistoric eras in karst, geotectonics, and the nexus between human activities and karst sustainability.

This book provides a comprehensive yet fresh perspective for the cutting-edge CI-oriented approaches in water resources planning and management. The book takes a deep dive into topics like meta-heuristic evolutionary optimization algorithms (e.g., GA, PSA, etc.), data mining techniques (e.g., SVM, ANN, etc.), probabilistic and Bayesian-oriented frameworks, fuzzy logic, AI, deep learning, and expert systems. These approaches provide a practical approach to understand and resolve complicated and intertwined real-world problems that often imposed serious challenges to traditional deterministic precise frameworks. The topic caters to postgraduate students and senior researchers who are interested in computational intelligence approach to issues stemming from water and environmental sciences.

This is the second volume focused on geoethics published by the Geological Society of London. This is a significant step forward in which authors address the maturation of geoethics. The field of geoethics is now ready to be introduced outside the geoscience community as a logical platform for global ethics that addresses anthropogenic changes. Geoethics has a distinction in the geoscientific community for discussing ethical, social and cultural implications of geoscience knowledge, research, practice, education and communication. This provides a common ground for confronting ideas, experiences and proposals on how geosciences can supply additional service to society in order to improve the way humans interact responsibly with the Earth system. This book provides new messages to geoscientists, social scientists, intellectuals, law- and decision-makers, and laypeople. Motivations and actions for facing global anthropogenic changes and their intense impacts on the planet need to be governed by an ethical framework capable of merging a solid conceptual structure with pragmatic approaches based on geoscientific knowledge. This philosophy defines geoethics.

This report discusses the challenges and opportunities associated with the freshwater needs in oil and gas operations and the beneficial use of produced water. Practical solutions are offered to support evidence-based policy making for an integrated and sustainable approach to water management.

This Book presents innovative and state of the art studies developed in Environmental Education in different countries to highlight this theme and promote its implementation all over the world. It will give a scientific perspective of Nature-based solutions to promote environmental education in all citizens and a more educational perspective as to how this approach can be implemented at schools and universities. Not less important is that includes science communication as a key factor for training and disseminating about the environment. The invited authors are recognized experts with excellent work developed in Environmental Education. This contributed volume presents innovative and creative work in the area giving a step forward in the implementation of Environmental Education, namely as a target of 2020 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. The invitation of authors from many different countries allows the creation of a network and subsequently the book will bring concrete ideas as to how to develop operational capacities to bring added values to Environmental Education at an international level.